This invention is a new health aid that has been designed to test the integrity of contraceptives (condoms) that are used during sexual activities. It is designed to be an in-home test aid that is simple and effective; giving an evaluation of the integrity of the contraceptive that is to be used.
Contraceptives are the only health aid currently on the market which provide adequate protection from sexually transmitted diseases. However, if the contraceptive is defective due to age, package failure, or manufacturing flaws, there is an increased risk of sheath failure and of being exposed to sexually transmitted diseases.
Health care specialists are alarmed at the meteoric increase in the spread of sexually transmitted diseases (STD). This concern is heightened by the tragic advent of the AIDS epidemic. Hardly a day goes by where the media does not report that another celebrity has either contracted the HIV virus or died of AIDS. In the United States alone, authorities estimate that over a million people are HIV positive and are potentially transmitters of the AIDS virus. Moreover, because of the insidious nature of the AIDS virus, one may be a carrier and not know it.
Both the medical community and various state and federal governmental agencies have urged the general public, especially those who are sexually active, to practice "safe sex." The practice of safe sex embodies the use of a contraceptive in the form of a sheath or a condom to prevent the passage of body fluids from the male to the female or vice versa during the act of sexual intercourse. However, even safe sex is only as safe as the integrity of the condom membrane. Before the advent of AIDS, condom breakage or leakage during use was not potentially a life-threatening matter. Indeed, on the contrary, it may have life-initiating consequences. While neither consequence may be desirable to the user, the former is potentially far graver.
Therefore, it is desirable for those sexually active individuals, both male and female, who have a number of partners, to have a device that is of simple construction, inexpensive and easy to use in the privacy of one's home which will effectively test a condom prior to use for tears, perforations and porosity. Of course, it is hoped that the condoms are manufactured with sufficient quality control procedures to prevent any imperfect condoms from proceeding to the marketplace. Unfortunately, no quality control system is 100% effective. Not only do some condoms pass through even the most efficient quality control procedures, through improper sorting, but packaging problems, problems in transport, in the marketing chain, through vandalism, and through lack of proper home storage and may provide for tears, perforations, porosity problems or other potential circumstances for sheath failure of a condom during use.
A number of prior art devices and methods are directed to the testing of surgical gloves and condoms. However, those devices represented by, for examples, U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,915,272, 4,889,266, and 4,909,413 are all large and complex devices designed for and intended to be used either in a hospital setting or in a factory setting.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,875,358 (Marsh et al. 1989) discloses a method and device for testing a condom, device having an elongated generally cylindrical forming member made up of made up of nesting annular elements, inflatable with a bellows element attached to an open end of the cylindrical chamber. The Marsh device, while having advantages over the other patents set forth above, still fails to provide for a means of positively testing the permeability, beyond a visual check. Nor does the Marsh device provide for the devices to perpetuate the easy rerolling of the condom. All these and more are provided in the simple device of Applicant's invention.
None of the devices disclosed produce a simple, easy to use, inexpensive to manufacture device which will provide for an unsophisticated and simple method of inhome testing of a condom for sheath integrity just prior to use. Moreover, none of the present devices provide for a condom-testing device or method which allows the tester to effectively re-roll the condom back into its pretested configuration.
This invention is designed to provide the sexually active consumer with a test of the integrity of the contraceptive that will be used. It will allow the individual to test the contraceptive for any defect such as holes or rips that would expose the user to a health risk. To operate, the individual adjusts a contraceptive over the air chamber and secures the collar lock ring around the base into the channel provided on the chamber. This locks tight forming an air-tight seal. Push the plunger down and inflate the contraceptive; lock plunger in place by rotation. This seats the plunger collar tab into the lid of the chamber and will hold the plunged down while the individual inspects the contraceptive for defects.
Most condoms are one size. The latex sheath in conjunction with a rubber ring at a distal end thereof provide enough elasticity to properly fit the majority of males. Thus, it is the object of the present invention to provide for a cylinderical member with perforations in the walls thereof, with an outer surface and an inner barrel, the outer surface to receive, by unrolling, the sheath of a condom thereon, and the inner surface to receive a piston therein to force air through the perforations of the cylindrical member into the condom.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide an air release means to allow the air captured in the inflated condom to produce an audio signal indicative of condom integrity.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide for a device comprised of a cylindrical member onto which a condom is unrolled, which cylindrical member is capable of inflating a condom, sealed to the member, and for providing a fluid container sealable to the member into which the inflated condom may be inserted, so it can be checked for air leakage.
These and other purposes will be set forth in the specifications and claims as follows.